March 9, 2025
Lucy Lang
March 9, 2025
“Miss, can you get us more guards?”
You can imagine my surprise when an incarcerated New Yorker asked me this. His request echoed in my mind during the devastation of recent weeks, including Robert Brooks’ murder at the hands of correction officers, Messiah Nantwi’s death earlier this month, and the unlawful work stoppage by employees of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision that has led to increasingly unsafe conditions in prisons across New York.
Staffing shortages have long plagued state prisons, and they come at great cost to the safety of incarcerated people and staff alike. In addition to the danger, having too few guards also necessitates cutbacks to vital services and programming for the 30,000 people held in state prisons. This includes limiting or eliminating time outdoors, terminating vocational and educational training, and prohibiting visits from family members.
But the illegal stoppage, and the recruitment and retention challenges cited by many, overlook a critical part of the problem: DOCCS’ employees’ persistent abuse of the state’s Workers’ Compensation System.
At the Office of the New York State Inspector General, we have a unique vantage point on this troubling problem, both in our role overseeing executive branch agencies, including DOCCS, and in investigating fraud in the workers’ compensation system. It’s in those two capacities that I have spent time at all 42 of New York’s state prisons, hearing the stories of incarcerated people, correction officers and administrators.
It’s also in those two roles that my colleagues provide ethics training to every incoming group of correction officers, emphasizing that the officers’ oath includes a commitment to support the U.S. and state constitutions, and the mandatory requirement that they report to us any violations of the law.
The most persistent complaints we hear back during our outreach are about the flagrant misuse of workers’ compensation benefits by correction officers.
As detailed in our May 2023 report, the existing DOCCS labor contract contains provisions that, unlike those governing comparable professions, enable correction officers to take up to six months of full-pay leave following an occupational injury without having to use accrued leave or rely on traditional workers’ compensation insurance. Also, unlike police labor contracts, the DOCCS agreement lacks workers’ compensation provisions requiring claimants to remain at home during their leave or to see approved doctors — making fraud investigations extremely difficult.
While originally designed to acknowledge the dangers inherent in corrections work, over two-thirds of the claims filed under these generous terms have no connection to contact with incarcerated individuals and instead relate to incidents like slipping in the parking lot, falling off a chair or even turning a doorknob too forcefully.
The statistics are damning: DOCCS employees make up just 15% of the state workforce but account for a staggering 44% of all workers’ compensation fraud investigations by the State Insurance Fund.
Manipulative practices have been normalized to the point that “couples comp” is a regularly used term amongst prison administrators — a reference to married couples who both work for DOCCS and who coordinate their workers’ compensation claims to facilitate travel or child care. At one facility in western New York, workers’ compensation call-outs spike on days when the Buffalo Bills play.
This habitual abuse has far-reaching consequences. A recent DOCCS memo advising prison superintendents that “70% of our original staffing model is the new 100%” underscores the desperation of the situation. When correction officers exploit workers’ compensation benefits, incarcerated people lose access to programs that are essential for their successful reintegration into society. The remaining officers are forced to endure grueling double and triple shifts, leading to exhaustion, low morale and ultimately, staff attrition. An officer we met missed the birth of his child due to mandatory overtime necessitated by colleagues’ fraudulent absences.
As overdue attention is paid to DOCCS’ systemic deficiencies, New York has an opportunity to implement real reforms that prevent further abuse of the workers’ compensation system. These must include stronger enforceable accountability measures and a fair but firm approach to balancing the rights of correction officers with the safety of all in our prisons. New Yorkers inside our prisons — whether incarcerated or employed there — deserve better.
Lucy Lang is New York state inspector general.